Thelbert Lanier, who lives in a suburb about 40 miles south of Houston, drove eight hours to meet his wife, Cyndie Lanier, when the distressed Carnival Triumph arrives in Mobile. Lanier stood with other families outside the Alabama Cruise Terminal in Mobile on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. (Kelli Dugan/kdugan@al.com)

Thelbert Lanier drove eight hours from Angleton, Texas, to arrive in Mobile only to learn his wife will remain stranded on the distressed ship until at least 9 p.m. and possibly as late as 8 a.m. Friday.

“I’m mad that they didn’t have a backup of any kind. An engine going out shouldn’t shut the whole thing down, but I don’t know what else they could do for us,” said Lanier, whose wife is one of 4,229 people aboard the ship being towed into Mobile Bay after an engine room fire set the vessel adrift in the Gulf of Mexico Sunday.

Lanier, who served in the U.S. Navy from 1969 until 1973, said he’s simply waiting to get his wife ashore safely, and while he lashes out at Carnival from time to time, he understands it’s simply a waiting game.

“I got a text from her at 4:30 this morning and it’s not good,” he said, sharing a portrait of the two with reporters outside the Alabama Cruise Terminal where national and international media outlets are swarming for word on the ship’s progress.

“I don’t know what more (Carnival) could do for us,” he said, reiterating the cruise lines promises of refunds, discounts on future cruises and cash for the inconvenience caused.

Meanwhile, Travis and Karen Jackson of Paris, Texas, stood outside the terminal with a giant teddy bear for their 20-year-old daughter Karley Jackson. For video of our conversation with the Jacksons, click here.

Karley Jackson was one of a troupe from Jazzersize enlisted by Carnival to teach courses on the cruise for passengers.

Kevin Jackson said he received a text from his daughter Sunday and spoke to her by phone around 2 p.m. Monday. When asked how she got cell service with the power out, he said she found a “hot” plug following the disabling fire and managed to charge her phone.

“That’s my daughter right there,” Kevin Jackson said.

Karen Jackson said the couple made the 10-hour drive to spare their daughter continued discomfort.

“We just didn’t want her to go through the waiting and the busing. She’s been through enough,” Karen Jackson said.

When asked if she believes her daughter will think twice before embarking on another similar adventure, Karen Jackson said she “wants to hear the answer to that one myself.”

But Kevin Jackson said it’s par for the course with his daughter who has done mission work in the past and helped with post-Katrina cleanup in New Orleans.